Revelation | May 12, 2026

Start your day with a short, Scripture-centered devotional from Paul Michael. In about seven minutes, you will hear the Word, reflect on its truth, and be encouraged to live it out in everyday life.

Revelation | A New Earth

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Transcript

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Welcome to your daily devotional with me, PMV. Today we enter into Revelation chapter 21, the next to the last chapter of the Bible. And if you remember, last time we saw God cast death into the lake of fire. God killed death. So that was last time. So today we're going to see what happens next. Okay, following the death of death, we have a picture of the new heavens and the new earth that God has prepared for us. We have a picture of the eternal state of those who believe in Jesus. Revelation chapter 21, verse 1 reads, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. Okay, there are two predominant views on what heaven will actually be. One view is that we will be in a literal heaven beyond earth. Somewhere up in the sky. The other view is that this present earth will either be transformed or a completely new earth made, and God will dwell in our midst in this earth, this new earth, and thus he's making it heaven. I believe Revelation makes it clear that the present earth we know will be completely destroyed. Peter also spoke of the current heaven and earth being completely destroyed in his second epistle. Let me read 2 Peter 3, verses 10 through 13. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it, will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt away with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Okay, so what does that mean for us? Well, I believe that it means that God will make a new heaven and a new earth, and we will dwell in this new earth, and God will dwell in our midst. Instead of us going up to heaven, heaven comes down to us in this new earth, in this new heaven. I didn't always understand this view of heaven, but as I have studied over the years through the book of Revelation, I've really become convinced that this is the case. Over the next few verses that we look at, I think you'll see why this is true. Revelation 21, verses 2 through 5 read, Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabern tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be as people. God himself will be with them and be their God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, no nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirst. Okay, did you hear that? Heaven comes down to us. God makes all things new, he creates a new earth for us, and then he comes to dwell in this new earth, which thus makes it heaven, God's presence. If you notice, verse one says, the new earth will have no sea. But verse six speaks of a fountain of living water. So this is figurative language. First, if you look through the book of Revelation at how the sea is spoken of, you will clearly see that it is used symbolically to represent judgment and at times evil. Revelation 13, 1 is a good example of this. It reads, Then I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. So where does the beast, the Antichrist, arise from? The sea. Therefore, what is being said here is a reference to being no more sea, and yet a fountain of living waters, I think is this. The new earth that God creates for us will be a place where everything that is sinful or harmful to us will be removed, and all that is left is to enjoy God and his new creation forever and ever. The world we live in is beautiful. Even marred by sin, it's extraordinary. The beauty of a mountain lake, the majesty of an aspen forest, the feel of fresh grass between your toes, a gentle breeze on a summer night. Can you imagine if how beautiful this world is, even tainted by sin, how amazing the new heavens and the new earth will be. Not only will the new earth be amazing, but the thing that makes heaven heaven is God will dwell in our midst. Heaven comes to us. No more death, no sorrow, no crying, no pain. All things will be made new, and they will be perfect, including you and me. I can't wait. Did you catch what God said though in verse 5? Let's read it again. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write, for these words are faithful and true. The words are what? Faithful and true. That's God's way of saying you can count on it. This is God saying, I'm telling you what is going to happen, and you can trust me completely to do it. Let's read our remaining two verses for today. Revelation 21, verses 7 through 8 read, He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son or daughter. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. The promise of everlasting life is made to those who what? To those who overcome. This promise goes back to what Jesus said to his churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Do you remember how Jesus had a promise to each church that overcame? Does that mean that we're saved by our works? No. But genuine faith produces fruit. And the fruit that God is looking for specifically here is that we endure, we overcome, we hold fast until the end. The Greek word we translate here as overcome is where our word Nike comes from. It means to win in the face of obstacles, to persevere till the end, to prevail. Those who have a saving faith in Jesus Christ will be known by their perseverance until the end. But those who overcome will be in heaven while those who are overcome, specifically by sin and unbelief, will not. Verse 8 gives us a list of people who will not be in heaven, but there's two things about this list. I want you to understand. First, it's not comprehensive. It's not that people who commit only these sins will be excluded from heaven. It's that all who persist in their sin and reject Jesus as Savior, those are the ones who are excluded from heaven. This list is just a sampling of those sins. It's not meant to be comprehensive. So, second, how many times do you have to sin to be on this list? For example, this list includes liars. How many times do you have to lie to be a liar or to be included on this list? I mean, we all might make this list if we're honest. If we have an honest appraisal of our life, we might be on there. But this is the point. It's those who persist in sin and thus reject Jesus as their Savior, reject his transforming work in their lives. That's what this list represents. It speaks of those who choose sin as a lifestyle and reject the Savior. In their heart, their mind, their speech, they are rejecting God's way of salvation. Look, God cares about everything that goes on. He cares about the sin in your heart, the rebellion in your thoughts, your speech, all actions of rebellion that are sin against God. He sees it all, he knows it all, and he's provided Jesus to cover it all by his blood through all who believe in him. But just like saving faith results in the fruit of being an overcomer, so rejecting faith results in the fruit of a life of sin and rebellion against God that results in an eternity separated from God. But again, that's why Jesus came. He was born, he died, he rose again, that we might be saved now and have the hope of heaven, the promise of heaven to come. God is glorified in saving us. God's desire is for us to be saved. The question becomes will we receive the gift he has provided in Jesus? Will we turn from our way and will we trust in him? Thank you for joining me today. I pray this has been a blessing to you. For more information, you can go to pmbministries.org. As always, I hope you have a great